The Lord has been speaking about the manifestation of the sons of God and the release of all creation from futility.
This spirit of futility is not only raging in your circumstances, but it is also raging against you individually.
The people who have been marked to walk with God have been more harassed and more subject to the oppression of the spirit of futility than ever before.
If you want to release creation from futility, you must first walk in the authority over futility in your own life. It will do no good for you to try to bless and help someone else into that which you have not been a partaker of yourself. God is setting before you this exercise of authority over futility.
Oh, this impossible futility! It becomes so frustrating when there seems to be futility upon all our efforts.
The wisdom of God is very important because unless we can discern the enemy or analyze the problem by the Holy Spirit’s guidance, it will not be solved.
But at this time God is more concerned about our exercising authority than our moving in great wisdom. We must have the wisdom, but that is not the complete answer. The complete answer is found in the authority.
In Luke 22:63–69 we read of the events leading to the trial of the Lord Jesus as He was brought before the Jewish council. And the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking Him, and beating Him, and they blindfolded Him and were asking Him, saying, “Prophesy, who is the one who hit you?” And they were saying many other things against Him, blaspheming. And when it was day, the Council of Elders of the people assembled, both chief priests and scribes, and they led Him away to their council chamber, saying, “If you are the Christ, tell us.” But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe; and if I ask a question, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power (dynamis) of God.”
This declaration of the Son of Man being seated at the right hand of the power of God refers to Psalm 110 and also occurs again and again in the book of Hebrews.
The references to Christ at the right hand of the Father were a source of encouragement and hope to the early Church. The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet.” Psalm 110:1. This Psalm, in its various aspects, is one of the most quoted and most important Messianic Psalms in the entire Bible.
We return to our Scripture in Luke. And they all said, “Are You the Son of God, then?” And He said to them, “Yes, I am.” And they said, “What further need do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.” Then the whole body of them arose and brought Him before Pilate. And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation.…” Luke 22:70–23:1, 2.
Another reference to Christ’s position is found at the close of the great commission, with promise of the signs that were to follow those who believe: So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. Mark 16:19.
Again this is a reference to Psalm 110. This prophecy of the right hand of God was very essential, for this was the backing the Christians had as they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed. Mark 16:20b.
We again find the position of Christ mentioned in Acts 7:54–8:1, which relates the stoning of Stephen. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (This again triggered off the impulse to kill.) But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears, and they rushed upon him with one impulse. And when they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him, and the witnesses laid their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they went on stoning Stephen as he called upon the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” And falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And having said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death.
If we as Gentiles could comprehend the Jews’ concept of the Messiah who would actually sit at the right hand of God in a place of great exaltation, we would imagine their reaction when Christ came before the Jewish council and said, “I have nothing to say to you except that I will sit at the right hand of God!” That was heresy! They needed no further witness; they had heard enough. They rushed Him to Pilate; Pilate sent Him to Herod, Herod sent Him back to Pilate; and the course of crucifixion was rapidly fulfilled in the sequence of events.
This right-hand principle was very significant; it meant that God the Father was going to exalt Christ. But the Jews could not accept Him as the Son of God, even though He said He would be seated at the right hand of God.
This principle becomes of the utmost significance as we move on in the Scriptures. Many references to Christ being at the right hand of the Father occur in the book of Hebrews.
In effect Christ becomes the sole executor of divine authority; He said, “All authority has been given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” Matthew 28:18b. That is a truth verified by many Scriptures. All authority in heaven and earth has been committed to the Lord Jesus.
Follow these verses in the book of Hebrews very carefully, and the impact of this right-hand principle will become real to you. God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world (ages). And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Hebrews 1:1–3. The book begins by pointing to the right hand of the Majesty.
The eighth chapter begins, Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens (He is also King of kings and Lord of lords as well as the High Priest and the great Apostle of our faith), a minister in the sanctuary, and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. Hebrews 8:1, 2.
The tenth chapter brings us further into the heart of this truth: But He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God (there is a reason for this repetition), waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. Verses 12–14.
Now Christ is at the right hand of the Father with all rule and all authority in His hand.
Pharaoh was king over all Egypt; but when he exalted Joseph and sat him at his right hand, he put everything into the hand of Joseph. “Only in the throne I will be greater than you,” were Pharaoh’s words to Joseph. Genesis 41:40b. Everything else was transferred completely to Joseph.
Hebrews 12:1–3 further enlightens the right-hand principle: Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. We are to fix our eyes on the Lord who went through much suffering for the joy that was set before Him and then sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
From Christ’s own testimony, the testimony of the early Church, and those passages in Hebrews, a foundation has been laid, presenting an underlying principle. Now brace yourself for the meat found in Ephesians 2:4–6. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus. Do you believe that Christ has the authority of the Father, unreservedly and completely and that everything is in His hand—all authority in heaven and in earth?
We have often said that we are identified with Christ; and in using that word, we have robbed ourselves of our true portion. God has identified us with Christ, but that is only the beginning; He is working something identical with Christ in us. It takes another word, “identical,” to give us the whole truth.
I am not only identified with Christ as He hung on the cross for me, but the cross becomes a real experience in my life. Although I do not go through it literally with nails in my hands, yet God brings me through a work of the cross so that an identical experience is worked in me. I am not just identified with that cross, but I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.… Galatians 2:20. It is an identical experience, though just a little different.
The Lord Jesus Christ, in bringing many sons to glory, brings us into a real, identical experience with Himself.
He went through many trials, and in suffering He learned obedience (Hebrews 5:8). We do not suffer to the same extent He did, but we do suffer identically as He did, because He does not want to produce a love in us that is only very similar to His love; He wants to produce His own divine love within us. God does not want us to be a reasonable facsimile of Christ; He wants us to be conformed to the image of His Son in all things (Romans 8:29).
He wants the same identical nature produced in us—many sons brought to glory (Hebrews 2:10), coming forth in the same image, in the same life!
The manifestation of the sons is really the manifestation of the Son in His sons, for it is the same identical work of the cross and the same identical authority.
When He raised us up to sit with Him, He did not place a little chair beside the throne, so that we could see how He ran things. No, we are moving into the same authority. We are seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and this authority at the right hand of the Father is the authority we share—the very same identical authority!
When we see principalities and powers being made subject to Christ, it is the open door by which we will see Satan bruised under our feet (Romans 16:20).
We have the same victory, the same authority! We overcome by the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 12:11). We are coming into the same, identical nature. We do not merely have a restraint placed upon the old nature; we receive a new nature and become a new creature!
We do not have only an identification with Christ’s experiences, but we walk through these experiences in such a way that an identical work is done within our lives. This is one of the keys of the manifestation of the sons of God. It is not what is in us, but what He is working in us. He is coming to be glorified in His saints (2 Thessalonians 1:10). This is exactly the way it will come forth.
We are to manifest the right-hand principle. We are to be the fullness of Him who fills all things: Which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand (here it is again) in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all. We must realize our position. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.… Ephesians 1:20–23, 18, 19.
The power that God has beamed toward us who believe is the same power He manifested when He raised Christ from the dead, set Him at His right hand, and made Him Head over all things to the Church, His Body. It is a big throne—total authority rests in the Father, the Son, and the sons.
For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you (this is not really teaching baptismal regeneration—read carefully what it does say)—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him. 1 Peter 3:18–22.
Christ died for our sins. Then He went down into the prison where the spirits who were once disobedient were held, and preached to those spirits. Then the Father brought Him up from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand.
If you think of water baptism as only an experience of identification, you are falling short of the truth. Christ was buried, went down into the lower regions and preached, was resurrected and raised to sit at the right hand of the Father.
He came forth having overcome principalities and powers. We are saved in the same manner. It is one thing for us to stand and rebuke those powers in the name of the Lord Jesus, who won all the victories over them; and it is quite another thing for us to stand in the name of the Lord Jesus, having submitted to the work of the cross in our own lives, having gone through the hell of all God’s dealings upon us, and to come forth in a realistic participation until we walk in an identical victory because Christ has worked it in us.
We need more than simply identification with Christ’s authority, but we cannot move into His full authority until we have experienced His burial and it has become more than a symbol to us. We will see areas of our lives die, be buried, then come into a total experience of being resurrected into a whole new potential. It is an experience, but it also seems to be a process that expands. Day by day this will become more real in our lives.
Our walk with God is more than walking along day by day and serving Jesus. It is leading us into the manifestation of the sons of God.
The purposes of the ages are being wrought in us, and will continue to be wrought in us until we are moving in that which is a total and absolute reality within our lives. We will not be mechanical men who say the right words, understand the right doctrines, and then expect sonship to happen.
Many men want a ministry. They want to go forth and do many great works, but until certain things are worked in their lives, any work they do is in continual jeopardy because of what is lacking in their lives.
To be sure, a quick work must be done in the earth (Matthew 24:22), but time is really not the issue; what is essential is that an identical experience of Christ be wrought in His ministers. Otherwise, their work will be ineffective until they submit to the completion of His work within them. God must put them through testings. There is no other way except to yield to the sufferings of the Lord, and then to move into that authority in the name of the Lord.
Many of us have gone through the death experience, and it is time for Christ’s authority to come forth in our lives. If Christ has been made Head over all things to the Church and we are His fullness, then it is time that we manifest that fullness to the world. If it is going to happen, it will happen through us!
Some think that Christ is to come and manifest this fullness. He is coming. He is producing the same identical life, authority, and experience in us that are in Him. It is the same life. There is no difference. We must not look upon it as something apart from what we are becoming. What we are doing is not as important as what we are becoming. That is the key to our walk in the Spirit.
This word may be hard to apply, but it should be a blessing to understand the full extent and reality of what is really happening in us. Let us not draw back from it. By the precious blood of Jesus Christ we will go through it and become those many sons being led to glory. We exercise that authority now in all the areas of our lives where we see futility assaulting us.
Let an application of this message be made now as you exercise authority over futility. You cannot loose creation from futility until you move into that authority in Christ and release yourself from futility.
You do not pray to Jesus that He exercise power over the devil. He wants to bring that dominion over principalities and powers through you. He wants to bruise Satan under your feet. There is no other way.
You must experience His experiences. The greatest indication that we are really walking with God is that we are partaking of the sufferings of Christ. As we enter into the same identical suffering with Him, we will reign with Him in the same identical authority.